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    Old Laptop

    Somebody gave me a Dell Latitude CP. It had no OS, so I put on Windows 2000 Professional SP4...

    Specs:
    -233MHz Pentium w/MMX
    -128MB RAM
    -2GB HDD
    -USB Wifi adapter

    Question is, what practical purpose could it serve? It's too slow for Folding@Home, and I'm really not sure what I could use it for. Any ideas?

    #2
    Re: Old Laptop

    find a PCMCIA wifi card. Usb ones are slow (since you are on 1.1 or worse, 1.0). keep in mind that usb 1.0/1.1 runs at 11 m MAX, less if multiple devices are used. PCMCIA runs at standard PCI speed IIRC, which is much faster.

    an HDD upgrade also helps here.

    they have a little bit of a special charm that modern laptops lack.

    if my pII or older collection still worked, I'd keep one around just for fun... but most of mine died of smashed screens (during a massive shelf crash that happened, which destroyed a LOT of stuff). I still have an old celeron gateway solo but its missing half the caddy and is crippled by the celeron.

    for an OS, you could run puppy linux on it... or 98. lubuntu may be a stretch, but crunchbang may work. the most limiting factor is the hdd, which with 2000, will not work, as a 5gb unit wasn't quite practical the last time i tried 2000 on a tiny hdd.

    just do us all a favor and DON'T intentionally destroy it... old laptops from that era are quite robust and due to caddy destruction, are hard to find in a complete state

    (ratdude wishes he had a working decent one again, to go with the 20gb hdd and pcmcia network card he has in his stash)
    Last edited by ratdude747; 12-19-2011, 11:13 PM.
    sigpic

    (Insert witty quote here)

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      #3
      Re: Old Laptop

      Don't have PCMCIA wireless card.
      Don't have a 20GB HDD, and it flipped out and wouldn't boot when I put in a 60GB HDD
      Don't have puppy linux on CD

      I like these computers too, they are much better quality than the new ones... but just a tad (well, more than a tad) too slow...

      Any ideas what to do with it though?

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Old Laptop

        They're still OK for browsing the web and word processing, provided that you don't bloat them much (ie, run a small linux distro like Vector or Puppy, so you don't need Antivirus)
        I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

        No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

        Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

        Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

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          #5
          Re: Old Laptop

          Originally posted by shovenose View Post
          Don't have PCMCIA wireless card.
          Don't have a 20GB HDD, and it flipped out and wouldn't boot when I put in a 60GB HDD
          Don't have puppy linux on CD

          I like these computers too, they are much better quality than the new ones... but just a tad (well, more than a tad) too slow...

          Any ideas what to do with it though?
          ok, I was just warning you that it was going to suck with you configuration.

          you may be okay with puppy linux... just burn an iso, its only 100mb of a download.

          as for what to do with it- either use it or sell it...
          sigpic

          (Insert witty quote here)

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Old Laptop

            It's got a Pentium ONE processor, web browsing is painfully slow...

            I want to use it, but what shoudl I use it for?

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Old Laptop

              Originally posted by shovenose View Post
              It's got a Pentium ONE processor, web browsing is painfully slow...

              I want to use it, but what shoudl I use it for?
              well... retro computing.

              it really has no use if you have a large fleet of new stuff and you don't care for old style computing.

              the only use would be just for kicks... you likely don't have a use for it.

              ps- the reason it browses slow is likely a combo of OS choice and using a USB wifi card... you are essentially choking it that way... a PCMCIA network device using a super-light linux distro would make it a lot more usable...
              sigpic

              (Insert witty quote here)

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Old Laptop

                ...and I thought my Inspiron 4000 was old with it's 800MHz P3 CPU! (laptop currently sitting on the patio collecting dust)
                Don't find love, let love find you. That's why its called falling in love, because you don't force yourself to fall, you just fall. - Anonymous

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                  #9
                  Re: Old Laptop

                  Put DOS or W98 on it and load it up with old game ROMs and Emulators.
                  .
                  Mann-Made Global Warming.
                  - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                  -
                  Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                  - Dr Seuss
                  -
                  You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                  -

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Old Laptop

                    ^ This. Windows 2000 can work just fine with a few services disabled.

                    Try to add 128 MB of SDRAM or whatever it uses, eBay should give you what you need.

                    Load it with zSnes and you'll have a nice super nintendo machine.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Old Laptop

                      Originally posted by mariushm View Post
                      ^ This. Windows 2000 can work just fine with a few services disabled.

                      Try to add 128 MB of SDRAM or whatever it uses, eBay should give you what you need.

                      Load it with zSnes and you'll have a nice super nintendo machine.
                      2000 uses too much hdd. he only has 2gb to work with.

                      i doubt it is SDRAM.

                      probably laptop SIMMs (the ones you HAD to pair)

                      128mb IIRC is the max you can use in most OEM pentium systems. anything after that would have been pII.

                      also, if you do linux it, make sure the version you install is i386, i486, or i586. i686 will not work, since pentium is i586 based and lacks nessary instructions to run i686.
                      sigpic

                      (Insert witty quote here)

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                        #12
                        Re: Old Laptop

                        PC100 RAM fits in but the 128 (2x64MB) modules in it right now are slightly smaller, so I can't fit two PC100 normal modules in there, and it beeps no matter what

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Old Laptop

                          Odd. Pentium 1 usually means EDO RAM.
                          I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

                          No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

                          Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

                          Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Old Laptop

                            Originally posted by shovenose View Post
                            PC100 RAM fits in but the 128 (2x64MB) modules in it right now are slightly smaller, so I can't fit two PC100 normal modules in there, and it beeps no matter what
                            i bet you have to use pc66 in it... on second thought, I think there were tiallamook pentiums that used sdram (tillamook is a late model mobile pentium).
                            sigpic

                            (Insert witty quote here)

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                              #15
                              Re: Old Laptop

                              Originally posted by c_hegge View Post
                              Odd. Pentium 1 usually means EDO RAM.
                              I've seen more Pentium 1 that use FPM than EDO, however that particular series does specify 3.3v EDO.
                              .
                              http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...ojav/specs.htm
                              .
                              BTW: They have this cool new invention called a search engine:
                              http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-a...w=1280&bih=839
                              .
                              Last edited by PCBONEZ; 12-20-2011, 09:21 PM.
                              Mann-Made Global Warming.
                              - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                              -
                              Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                              - Dr Seuss
                              -
                              You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                              -

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Re: Old Laptop

                                yeah, the dell is maxed out ram wise.
                                sigpic

                                (Insert witty quote here)

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Re: Old Laptop

                                  I'll compile Java on it
                                  2 hours later: damn it it's still building my program!!!
                                  lol

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Re: Old Laptop

                                    I've got an old laptop like that which I use solely for chatting on IRC and some messengers (via Miranda IM), independent of what I'm doing on my main box. Runs Win2k SP4 on 192MB RAM. Was stripped down a bit with nLite to remove some useless stuff.

                                    It's an IBM Thinkpad though, so it has a keyboard bonus

                                    edit: I could just use my Netbook for the same purpose, but a 10" 1024x600 screen (and to make matters worse, a glossy one) is a bit... claustrophobic. And so is the keyboard in the long run.
                                    Last edited by Scenic; 12-21-2011, 01:56 AM.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Re: Old Laptop

                                      Well, I found a use for it:
                                      web server for http://shovenose.dyndns.org so my Minecraft server can be dedicated to being, well, a Minecraft server

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Re: Old Laptop

                                        Originally posted by shovenose View Post
                                        Well, I found a use for it:
                                        web server for http://shovenose.dyndns.org so my Minecraft server can be dedicated to being, well, a Minecraft server
                                        Nice!

                                        You could also use it as a print server if you have a LPT-only printer.

                                        Originally posted by shovenose
                                        I'll compile Java on it
                                        2 hours later: damn it it's still building my program!!!
                                        Yes, but if your program runs okay on that, then you know it will run lightning-fast on any decent computer.
                                        My theory is, programmers should be given nothing more than a PII to work on. If the program runs too slow, then it's not optimized enough .

                                        Originally posted by ratdude747
                                        (ratdude wishes he had a working decent one again, to go with the 20gb hdd and pcmcia network card he has in his stash)
                                        Well I have a box-full of complete Dell CPIx laptops (PII, 400 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 2.5 MB VRAM, 6 GB Hitachi HD, 14" screen @ 1024x768, and power adapter). Free if you don't mind paying for the shipping - which you might since they are pretty heavy .
                                        I put Win 2000 on one and it runs pretty good, considering the slow HD.

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